Sarafina

A tall, black spotted savannah she-cat with oversized ears and brown eyes

Sarafina is a f1 Savannah, whose physique and appearance are closely linked to her Serval ancestory. She is extremely tall, having long legs that are out of proportion to the rest of her body, which is more average sized. Her head is small, though her ears are oversized, with each ear being as tall as her face its self. Her fur is a golden brownish colour, with a multitude of black spots across her body, running to her paws and tail tip. Her face is adorned with much smaller spots, along with cheetah, tear like black marks running from her eyes down her cheeks, an indication of her more wild background. Her eyes are a dark brown, while her muzzle and parts of her underbelly contain softer, white fur. Her ear tips have large, black tufts. She wears a black leather collar with her name engraved into a small plate on the side. The collar contains small studs of silver metal dotted across it which Sarafina found slightly uncomfortable at first but is now quite used to.

More attuned to her wild instincts, Sarafina is a very alert cat constantly picking up noises and scents which she finds quite distracting. She is a little skittish due to her constantly focusing on her surroundings. She will put too much focus onto one thing, then become spooked by another once she realises its there. Despite this skittish nature, she isn’t actually overly fearful. Things surprise her often, and she will get over it quickly, returning back to whatever she was doing beforehand. Sarafina has never come across danger leading to a very carefree attitude. She is neutral when it comes to other cats, but leans more on the friendlier side if she feels up to it though she is primarily a solitary cat. Gaining her trust is a slow process that not many have completed, though she is still young and developing, working out who she is.

Sarafina loves her humans, and loves hunting nearly just as much. Each night she tries to return home with a gift of prey for her owners, leaving it at their front door before she enters back inside through the cat door. Sarafina’s owners aren’t exactly overjoyed about this, but let her do as she wishes as long as the dead animals stay outside.

• Born in the Moon of First White (2019) 127

Sarafina was born within a Savannah Cattery to prized F1 Savannah Queen Niambi. Niambi had been paired with a a Serval tom, eventually producing a litter with him, birthing Sarafina and her sister, Sarabi. Being born with around 75% Serval blood, Sarafina and her sister were treasured kittens, taken excellent care of by both Niambi and the Cattery’s owners. Sarafina’s first weeks and months of life were filled constant spoiling. She was wobbly on her long limbs, and grew nice and plump, having a good mixture of her mother’s milk and nutrients given by her humans. Sarafina and Sarabi were like two peas in a pod, constantly following each other around, tripping each other over or gnawing at the other’s growing ear tufts. Niambi was an esteemed queen, taking great pride in her appearance and actions, though when it came to her children she was a little more lenient. As long as the litter upheld some sort of respectable profile when around others, they could be as rambunctious as they wanted away from the outside’s eye.

Niambi is getting old, and any further litters may cause dangerous complications. The cattery in which Sarafina was born decided to keep Sarafina and her sister in the hopes of breeding them in the future, creating further generation Savannahs that can be shown. Sarafina is still young, barely a year old and is still learning the ropes of how to be a respectable cat within Whitehart. She lives with her mother, sister, two other F3 Savannahs and a recent litter of kits birthed by one of the cattery’s other Queens, who she watches with wide eyed curiosity. She isn’t too interested in the dainty life her mother lives, preferring to wander around the garden when let outside. She’s an expensive cat, so whenever let outside, at least half of the time she is always under the constant watch of her owners in the hopes she isn’t stolen. Sarafina doesn’t mind, as the outside world can be a little overwhelming, so she prefers to stay closer to home anyway. Most of the time Sarafina can be found playing within the cattery’s large Catio in the house’s backyard, where she can be outside without the watchful eye of a human. At this age, Sarafina is nearly fully grown, already larger than every cat she has come across due to her wild roots. She is still a little clumsy on her paws, but has a hobby of practicing her leaps and balancing skills, hoping to become as graceful as some of the show-cats she has met.

• Burning Ravens (3LN'20)

House description to come.